Friday, June 29, 2012

6 more days have passed in my Facebook page cartoons counting down the days until San Diego ComicCon International 2012!

We're all a-twitter here about it. The schedule for events on Thursday were formally announced yesterday, and without even seeing the next 3 days of events, I know that Unca Jeffy is gonna be one tired boy!

Some were confused by this one, thinking I was hoping to meet Robert Downey Jr., Mark Ruffalo and the 2 Chris's from the movie...no no no...I want to meet the ACTUAL Avengers.

And likewise...I'm not mad at Green Lantern...I'm mad at the movie makers.

3 grades of Hollywood's takes on super-heroes. Good, Bad and WTF!!!! Luckily Superman can handle a gut shot now and then. I'm just confused on why we have to "reboot" Spider-Man 5 minutes after the first 3 came out. And...Peter Parker's parents??????????? in 50 years of the comic? Never heard of 'em!

My wave at the Twilight gang for my boss' boss. I almost had my balloon mentioning "True Blood", but then I found out that they were two different things. Again, who knew?

Star Trek, Star Wars and all thingies outer-spacey...a geeks dream.

I miss my Harvey comics. That's all there is to it. Casper the friendly ghost, Spooky the tuff little ghost, Richie Rich the poor little rich boy, Hot Stuff the good little devil, Big Baby Huey and the rest. No I didn't forget Stumbo the Giant, the cartoon was just too small.

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

I wanted to title this episode "Okie Dokie Smokey" in the great tradition of Hanna-Barbera Cartoon titles, but mostly in honor of all those one page gags in Archie/Harvey/Dell/Whitman/Gold Key comics I grew up with. Long in rhyme or alliteration, but short in meaning or substance.

Monday, June 25, 2012

Harvey Kurtzman and Jack Davis take on an Amercian staple next in the October 1954 issue of Mad THE COMIC BOOK #16. Undoubtedly a direct reaction to everyone picking on how the glamorized sex and violence in comic books was affecting it's readers.

THAT's how you do satire, kiddoes. Funny, pointed, direct...and funny...mustn't forget the funny.

Sunday, June 24, 2012

The Sunday Funnies has a couple of highlights in this section of the Chicago Daily News....real treats.

First up, Walt Kelly's masterful "Pogo". Every panel a gem, every word balloon poetry. This is what "awesome" meant before it applied to pizza, too.

Fred Neher's "Life's Like That". Another multi-single page strip which started to loom on the horizon in the 1950's. A sign of America's shortening attention span and I''m sure also, a way for newspapers to chop up and give more space over to advertising. The beginnings of the comics page shrinking. No offence to Neher, the strip is breezy Sunday morning reading. He did hsi job.

When I was a kid, the comic book racks were still full of humor comic's based on animated characters. And I mean all of 'em. Terrytoons, Looney Tunes, Lantz Tunes, Disney Toons...ALL had their rag newsprint counterparts. I always had a few laying around (though never collected any avidly) but they were always off-putting slightly, The characters didn't look the same of act the same as they did on the screen or TV. I of course now understand that different media call for different ways of story-telling. I have a new respect for them and the artistry that went into them. THAT was comic books, my local newspaper never carried any of the strip variations of this phenomenon, so it's nice to see samples like this.

So much to read, so little time.

Oh...that was a long-winded way of saying..."Here's Bugs Bunny!"

THIS uncredited strip, "Mr. Rumbles" looks pretty interesting. The art is solid, and the concept a new one for newspapers. I'm love to see some more.

Saturday, June 23, 2012

San Diego Comic Con is coming up in just 19 days. They want us to call it San Diego Comic Con International, but is old farts know it's just "Comic Con". Face it, this isn't A comic convention...this is THE comic convention...and it KNOWS who it is.

I've only been once, way back in 1992 (that's right...wayyyyyyyyyy back in the 20th century) and while it was big then, it's HUMONGOUS now.

By a thread I get to go.

Don't be jelly.

I'll glom as many stories and pics as I can and share them here with y'all when it happens, but until then, the excitement around here at "The Steamy Grotto" is palpable. To channel the excess energy, I've begun keeping track of the dwindling days with a daily cartoon I've been posting on my facebook page. I thought I'd share the roster thus far with you loyal blog readers.

Friday, June 22, 2012

While Jeffy is struggling with his own psyche, the rest of his world or course, keeps right on turning. Let's take a brief interlude from his trials and peek in on "Ye Olde Drink Hole" and see how Cousin Frank and his best pal Bigfoot are doing.

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

The little blue guy (who-ever or what-ever he is) is trying to go AWOL from Jeffy's head, but finds it as hard as Jeffy to escape Jeff's thoughts.

Had enough of a grown man calling himself "Jeffy"?...then read on...

SPOILER ALERT: The next section is artsy=techno gobbledygook. Please avoid is you are just into the comics for comics sake (and who would ever need more?) and come on back tomorrow for more!

I'm trying a few new ways of drawing this story. I'm doing the artwork at 11x14 and scanning it on a different device...it seems to pixelate quite a bit and I'm not sure if it's as evident to the reader as it is to me. Also scanning the lettering at the same size, but when I crop and paste, it changes the size, so I'm not sure if it has a good consistency in font size.

I may just be "All up in my head" about it though...just trying different things.

Monday, June 18, 2012

Mad Monday, Kiddoes, and on to Mad THE COMIC BOOK #16 cover dated October 1954.

Will Elder pulls double duty in this issue and his first task is his and Harvey Kurtzman's take on Sherlock Holmes, "Shermlock Shomes"...OK, so the parody titles weren't always as inspired as the art...sue 'em!

This ain't yer daddy's Sherlock, but then again neither is the Robert Downey, Jr. movie.

Sunday, June 17, 2012

Good morning and happy Sunday Funnies to you all! This week is part 2 of a 4 part posting of the Chicago Daily News SATURDAY Sunday supplement from June 4, 1955. 16 pages of 4 color deliciousness brought a day early back in the day.

Here in pages 5-8 we learn that the age of mediocrity had finally eclipsed the golden age of newspaper comics. The 1950's may have brought great lights like "Peanuts" and "Pogo", but for the most part it was a reflection of a lot of the homogenization of America. Still brought to you at full tabloid size though, the Sunday funnies still had the respect of their publishers, who still understood what sold papers!

Fist off is NOT an example of what I was just talking about. "Mopsy" by Gladys Parker was a slickly designed and easy-on-the-eyes strip with the fun bonus of some fashion paper dolls for the kids...

...and I have to imagine, the delight of seeing a pretty cartoon character in her underwear wasn't exactly unappealing to Junior or old Dad either.

Rex Morgan, M.D., a staple of newspapers for a few decades in the same soap opera vein as Mary Worth or Judge Parker or the Girls in Apartment 3G...I suppose Mom needed the funnies, too.

Here the water-mark drops. I'm not sure if the artist of "Little Debbie" (who's signature in the first panel is unknown to me) was trying to make the strip look like "Dondi" or not, but in retrospect I can see where the artist of "Li'l Jinx" in Archie comics got their inspiration. Anyone know if it's the same person or not? The frustration with humor comics of my childhood, is the publishers never listed credits and I'm never sure.

Here's another strip I know little about. The creative team of Al Fagaly and Harry Shorten are even unfamiliar to me, but this is a really well-laid out and well-timed strip. The boss's attitude and mentality aren't very far removed (actually right on the money) from some of the higher ups in the corporation I work for to this day!

Maybe I spoke to soon. Them 1950's may not have as many recognizable features for me as papers from the 40's, 30's or 20's...but they do hold their own and make for good Sunday morning reading!